STATEMENT OF NEED +

In the midst of a housing crisis that has increased demand and rates in the rental market, affordable housing options are needed now more than ever. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s “Out of Reach 2012″ report, nowhere in the country can a minimum-wage worker employed 40 hours a week afford market rate housing. Similarly, the US Conference of Mayors’ 2011 Hunger and Homeless Survey cited the lack of affordable housing as the primary reason for family homelessness and the number two cause of individual homelessness. ( http://nlihc.org/oor/2012)

• Single-family home prices nearly doubled in the first half of the 2000s, but these gains have disappeared. Florida's median single-family home price rose 79% from 2000 ($154,000) to 2006 ($276,200), adjusted for inflation. It then fell to $162,400 in 2010, bringing it back into line with 2001 prices.
• Despite falling home prices, Florida's low-income households still lack affordable housing. In 2000, 50% of low-income (60% AMI) households were cost burdened (paid more than 40% of income for housing). Cost burden rates rose throughout the housing boom and bust, stabilizing at 64% of low-income households in 2010.
• Renters are the hardest hit. 70% of Florida's low-income renters are cost burdened, compared to 58% of home owners. Over 600,000 renter households are cost burdened, including 174,000 elderly households.
• There are only 38 affordable and available rental units for every 100 extremely low-income (30% AMI) renter households.
(The Shimberg Center for Housing Studies)

KEY FINDING FLORIDA

• 618,814 low-income, renter households are cost burdened statewide in 2010
• The number of low-income, cost burdened households in the state will grow by 18,980 by 2013.
• Most low-income, cost burdened households live in large counties, with Miami-Dade County and Broward County alone accounting for 31% of the state total.
• About 1/3 of low-income, cost burdened households live in medium-sized counties, and only 4% live in small counties.
• 64% of low-income, cost burdened households consist of 1-2 members; 27% consist of 3-4 persons; and 9% consist of five or more persons. Large and medium counties adhere closely to this breakdown.
• Small counties have fewer 1-2 person households (58%) and more 3-4 person households (32%), but still only 9% five or more person households.
• 71% of low income, cost burdened households are headed by persons age 15-54; 29% are headed by persons age 55 and older. The proportion of elderly households is slightly higher in large counties: 31% of low-income, cost burdened households, compared to 27% in medium counties and 25% in small counties.

The national recession, led by a collapse in the housing market, has highlighted the need for a comprehensive overhaul of the structure and regulatory framework of the financial and housing sectors. While housing policy has historically put a premium on homeownership, a political consensus is emerging that affordable housing has an important place in a rebalanced national housing policy and that a healthy ownership and rental sector is vital for family and community stability.
With the onslaught of foreclosures neighborhoods see increased broken windows, dirty mosquito-infested pools, and weed-filled yards that tell a tale of woe. Foreclosures have devastated Florida neighborhoods leaving run-down homes in its wake.
Debilitated and rotting foreclosed homes are a problem in nearly every community and it has caused, and is still causing, much frustration. The financial impact on our communities is great, and each neighborhood experiencing the effects of the downward market is witnessing vanishing property values. The Housing League is turning its frustration into action by demolishing, rehabilitating and offering these homes to families who may have never had the opportunity to become a homeowner. This renewal and growth provides reinvestment, in the communities and neighborhoods, that can help in the revitalization of our State.
Through rehabilitation, and development of affordable housing, the Housing League is working to improve the quality of life for the communities we serve, and the families that call those communities home.